our republican colleagues are coming to the middle to meet us. we'll have to come to the middle to meet them, too, but there will be less obstructionism. i can't predict which issues, but i predict it will be a more productive congress than the last one. >> let me take some of these issues one by one. first of all what, makes you think that sequestration will not take place which, boy, most people up there this week have said, yeah, it's going to happen, and that is the across-the-board spending cuts. >> here's what i think. i think democrats have the high ground, both substantively and politically, and we will win on this issue. why? the bottom line is very simple. the republicans are proposing devastating cuts. they would lose 750,000 jobs -- >> but you all agreed to these across-the-board cuts. >> please, i would like to finish what i'm saying here. 750,000 jobs will be lost. the economy will shrink by 6%, and what we've produced is very simple. it's closing loopholes. the only people who support them are the people who benefit them from them,